Star Wars: The Last Orders
by Jedireaper
Summary: Please read & review: After an ice tunnel collapses, three Rebel soldiers are stranded on Hoth. With the evacuation of Echo base, and the Imperial presence gone, will they find a way off the frozen planet? And what awaits them once they do? ::: Story written by three Authors: ShawnMorgan, Jedireaper, and Princess-Aurora-Bunny :::
1. PROLOGUE

Authors' note: Hey guys, and welcome to Star Wars: The Last Orders, a mostly for fun experiment between three writers, both experienced and inexperienced, with myself (Jedireaper) performing the majority of the quality checks, which I'm sorry to say I didn't start doing till Chapter Six (which I will now be rectifying on a per-chapter basis for the earlier Chapters). I really hope you enjoy reading this story.

We have overhauled and updated the Prologue chapter to address concerns that we seem to be losing readers right-off-the-bat at the start of the story. Trust me, it gets better; both in writing, and in story. And we have plenty of action to come, things do get more exciting, and we'll try to have Cameos as befitting the story; so please stay with us.

And please leave us your thoughts and opinions and click those favourite and follow buttons to see when we upload our next chapter. Thank you for reading. -Jedireaper

UPDATE [17/08/2018]

 **Star Wars: The Last Orders**

PROLOGUE

Written by ShawnMorgan

Edited, Updated, and Additional Material Written by Jedireaper

"Hey, Naii", came the familiar voice of Relica Worbash. "It looks like we're down to our last few provisions."

Naii Rofteun sagged. It actually was going to come down to eating the Tauntaun stew Venik had been threatening to make, after all. Steeling himself by the thought, he returned to his work; that of affixing many working cables that had no business being attached to each other. But they were all he had to work with.

* * *

Two Weeks Earlier: The Battle of Hoth

Imperial Walker fire pounded the rebel positions as the defenders' outclassed snowspeeders performed minor miracles against the Empire's juggernauts. These terror transports had been deployed as the Rebels had, by some other miracle, had enough time to get the shield in place, preventing them from being wiped out from orbit.

"Naii! Heads up!"

Now, thought Naii Rofteun, we're going to get wiped out on the ground instead. "Fall back!" He shouted, waving at the soldiers in his position, and layed down covering fire.

He watched as the Imperial Walkers started to discharged their passengers, and a tide of Imperial Stormtroopers began charging Rebel positions. Between the constant pounding of Imperial Walker fire and the seismic resonance created by their stamping progress, Echo Base managing any form of resistance was close to a miracle.

The attack was coming from Darth Vader, his terrifying black visage easily visible amongst the sea of white. The Rebels now knew that it would be the Sith Lord's personal fleet layin in wait for them above. The Force alone knew how Echo Base had detected its approach.

Like the other rebels in the base, Naii now knew that this meant that it was only a matter of time before the base fell. Against any other Imperial force they may have stood a ghost of a chance. But not against Vader.

As Naii and his squad retreated into the base, a filtered voice echoed through the tunnels, "Imperial Troops have entered the base. Imperial troops have entered the-"

Naii gritted his teeth and awaited his inevitable fate alongside men and women, human and alien of the resistance. His Rodian commander spoke softly but his voice carried easily. "We will buy the transports as much time to get away as our lives can give. The Rebellion will live to fight another day. May the force be with us all." He paused, "Now go!"

The Imperials swarmed through, blazing away with abandon, some aiming, others just blasting away confident that their numbers would carry the day. Naii covered his commander, putting down several Stormtroopers just as his comrades were, even as the main gun thundered away next to him.

Then the gun stopped as more than one stormtrooper managed to get grenades on target. Charred bodies dropped next to him but steeling himself, he returned fire alongside the remnant.

Someone shouted,"Keep firing. We can hold them!"

Naii never knew who had said it, as a squad of Stormtroopers, using the cover of the grenade assault had set up a cannon. With one nearby concussive blast, Naii's world went white, and it felt like he was flying. Then he lost consciousness.

* * *

Relica Worbash shuddered as yet more of the doomed base collapsed around her, even as she felt the ground shake from the thudding approach of the Imperial Walkers, and the ever closer blaster fire.

The maintenance on the damaged station had almost been completed, she glanced at the several blips that finally flickered to life on the computer screen that denoted enemy forces. There was another set of Walkers detected approaching the south side of the base. This told her the bad news; there were more than a dozen of the damned things, and she knew that each one of them would be carrying at least a platoon of bucketheads.

A truncated warning echoed over the the base speakers, and Relica froze, no longer able to focus on her task. It was over. Swallowing hard, she gathered her gear, and fled along with the rest of her assigned squad, listening to the ever closer blaster fire.

Her squad up ahead turned into a corridor that was suddenly awash in blaster fire. Relica skidded to a halt short of the corner and started back tracking, everyone she knew already gone. She turned, and ran in the opposite direction, hoping to find a cut through that'd allow her to get to the last transports.

* * *

Venik Tyorran ran down the ice corridor. He'd been in a Snowspeeder but his craft had malfunctioned due to the cold; he'd had to footslog it from the forward station, back to the main base as he'd been asked to fly one of the last transports. He was almost there, rounding a turn in the corridor, when a large section of the ice ceiling fell in front of him. The young Rebel gaped, That was too close. If I'd been one second faster…

His communicator beeped. "Tyorran, where are you? We can't wait much longer, Imperials are already in the base!"

"I'm cut off," Venik admitted, studying the chunks of ice blocking his way, "Just get out of here, and good luck!"

"You too! Transport out."

Another voice sounded briefly over the line and Venik recognised the voice of Han Solo, who was apparently having similar issues. At least he has the Falcon, Venik thought, shame that's through this ice wall.

He turned and started running for the other end of the tunnel, dodging dropped crates, and packs, and even weapons. Just maybe there'll be a way through, he thought.

Just as he turned a corner he almost collided with a soldier who'd been running the other way, and it sent them both off-balance. "Whoa!" He grabbed for her arm before they both went over, and steadied them.

Breathing heavily she exclaimed, "The transport!"

"It's gone, tunnel collapsed, we need to go around-"

The woman grabbed Venik's arm, her eye's wide, her voice shaking, "But the tunnel back that way, the Snowtroopers used concussion grenades. It collapsed. We're-"

"Hey," Venik gave her arm a squeeze, "what's your name?"

"Relica," she managed, "Relica Worbash."

"Venik Tyorran." He let go of her arm and stood back. "We're just going to have to wait it out in here. Plenty of stuff laying around."

Relica followed his gaze to the abandoned supply crates and packs that were strewn about, and nodded. "Yeah, okay. What about the Snowtroopers?"

"Ah," Venik smiled, "there's plenty of go around…"

* * *

Six Days After The Battle...

He came round to see nothing but a dim white sheet, and a distant voice. A minute later he could see a worried (and orange garbed) Rebel Pilot knelt over him, staring at him. Naii sat up, blinking as his sight cleared. "Ugh, what hit me."

"Imperial weapons fire I imagine," said a female voice whose owner he couldn't see, "we dug you out two days ago, I think. We got left behind when the fleet evacuated. That's the bad news."

Naii tried to focus on her, giving up as a burning pain in his skull forced him to close his eyes as he managed to ask, "There's good news?"

"No more Imperials, they pulled out a couple of days back ago, seemed in a pretty big hurry," answered the Pilot, Naii could see the mans hair was tousled and mostly unkept. "And you're the only other Rebel we've found alive so far. And I can tell you that it was a bit touch and go with you, but we did what we could. You'll be alright."

Naii sat up slowly, and winced with pain, his voice took on a dark edge, "I'm the only one?"

The Pilot sighed, "There's nothing left of your unit," he spoke softly. "I'm sorry."

Naii was quiet for a few moments, seemingly soaking in the information given to him. "I see," he said at last, "so it's just us? And who are us?"

"I'm Relica Worbash." The woman who had been out of his sight now moved into it, both her and the Pilot looked none the worse for wear, her hair was matted, and the Pilot's uniform was scuffed and scraped.

"And this," she continued, "is Venik Tyorran."

"Naii," he breathed in and out slowly, "Naii Rofteun," Pausing to look around at their location, his eye's focussed on Venik. "Now, either of you happen to have some Terranian Brandy? I could use a drink."

Venik shook his head, "I'm sure we can find something, but it looks like we're down to the last orders."


	2. COLD STORAGE

Star Wars: The Last Orders

Chapter One - Cold Storage

Written By Jedireaper

The wind blew a gust of frigid air into his face and Venik pulled the facewrap tighter. The storm had only subsided a few hours ago, so the general balmy arctic temperatures Hoth normally got (for an ice cube) were less than friendly.

He continued clambering up the freshly formed snowdrift, leaving a trail of tumbling snow behind him. He'd been stuck out here for a few days now seperated from the others, and it'd been his own fault. He'd decided against the advice of the grizzled veteran and took the risk to come out here.

The storm was just his rotten luck. It left him stranded inside the carcass of the heavily damaged and abandoned AT-AT Imperial Walker. The good thing was that he'd even found one. The Imperials had done their normal mopping up operations but they'd left plenty of equipment behind. And considering the kind of environment it was not a surprise.

In fact, from what Venik and the Relica had been able to ascertain whilst trapped in the tunnels for those first few days, before they'd found Naii, was that the Imperial forces upped and left the planet pretty quickly. Probably off chasing the Rebel fleet, he'd imagined.

As Venik came abreast of the apex of the mountain of snow the storm had blown into place, he keyed his communicator. "Echo-" he faltered for a second, considering the use of the callsign, before continuing, "-one to base. Anyone there?"

He paused, listening to the static and the low swoosh of the wind over the snowdrift. "Echo one to base." He repeated. "Anyone read me?"

There was a subtle change to the pitch of the static and then a distinct feminine voice broke through. "Thank the Force. We thought you were gone." Even through the diffusion that the static provided, he could hear the relief in Relica's voice. "The storm came in quicker than we'd thought."

"I know, I was the one trapped out in it after all," I spent the last few days in the belly of a Walker, and my Tauntaun didn't make it past the first marker." Venik thought about the Tauntaun stew recipe he'd come up with, and was thankful he hadn't had to make it (yet). He doubted the Imperial ration packs he'd found would have really helped make the meal any more appetising.

"I'm…"

* * *

"...on my way back. You should see the amount of equipment the Imps left behind. I'm taking some stuff back with me, mostly ration packs, but you know I think we can do it."

Relica Worbash sighed and gave an affirmed nod, mostly for her own benefit. "Get back safe."

"Will do. Echo one, out."

The was a crack and flash of sparks behind her, briefly lighting up the dim hangar section they were in. She turned to see Naii Roftuen gripping the thick power cable with his insulated gloves.

Naii was thankful the burns marking them were as far as the damage had gone. "If this doesn't work," Naii muttered to himself, "it'll take the Four Hells of Corellia to find us."

"We'll be frozen long before then though." Came the inquisitive voice of Relica, stood a few meters behind him. "Because if not, then I can't think why else it would take that many hells."

"What about Sullust. It's pretty much hell right?" Naii added.

Relica smiled grimly. "If that's hell, what's this place?"

"Cold Storage." Naii stated.

"Oh haw haw, very funny, very funny." Relica waved Naii off as she turned and started making her way towards the daylight streaming through a collapse at the other end of the hangar. "I'm going to see if I can pick up Venik on the Macrobinoculars."

Naii turned back to the mess of cables and scrounged equipment, it looked like a tentacled electronic monstrosity. _So ugly,_ he thought, _it's gotta work_.

Heating on the parts of the base that remained in one piece (or ten) had given out days ago, and the lighting systems had continued to dim and go dark as the days rolled on.

 _If this doesn't work Naii, we should try our luck on the surface_. Venik had said to him. Maybe he was right. Either way he was glad the man survived.

As Naii connected up the live cable he was holding, he started muttering to himself: "It'll work, it's gotta work. I don't know how much power is left in the emergency generators, or what kind of range it might have. But it's gotta work, or it's Tauntaun stew all round. And I think Venik will carry out that threat."

Sparks brought his attention fully to his task, and the terminal and cables before him, as screens and lights started flashing. He'd cobbled together a pulsing beacon of sorts and connected it to a scrounged signal dish on the surface. Nothing fancy, and they weren't connecting to the HoloNet anytime soon but he hoped the pulse would be picked up by someone non-Imperial.

Though how long it'd take for the signal to reach anyone beyond the system was anyone's guess. Relica had mentioned that the signal would take a few days at best to reach the nearest hyperspace lanes. From there it was just a matter of actually being picked up.

He'd bet his trusty blaster pistol that the Imps had set up some kind of listening device in orbit or at the edge of the asteroid field. So only time would tell. Meanwhile they had Venik's idea.

* * *

The asteroids spun around their axis' darting and colliding and moving in synchronized chaotic harmony. Between all the rocky spacial debris was a smooth black cylindrical object that seemed apart from that which surrounded it. This object brought it's lazy spin to a halt, and a small ion jet lit up at one end.

It then sped towards the pristine white and blue marbled planet that lay before it.


	3. HOPE

Star Wars: Last Orders

Chapter Two - Hope

Written By Princess-Aurora-Bunny

Looking out over the icy tundra that lay before for her, she let out a sigh. No matter how she ran the numbers through her head, the outcome was always the same.

It would take at least a week for the signal to reach the closest hyperspace lanes and that was only if the storm didn't return and if Naii's improvised beacon held out. Then they had to hope that there were no imperial forces lingering around to take out or capture any remaining rebels.

She had told Naii that it would only take a few days. She had lied. 'A white lie' she thought and chuckled at the irony of that thought. White. Just like the damn planet they were stranded on. But that is exactly why she had lied. Even if she knew it to not quite be true, they needed hope. She needed hope.

She shivered as the cold penetrated through her jacket 'damn this ice block' she mentally cursed as she brought the Macobinoculars up to her face.

"Echo one to base," the familiar voice of Venik crackled through her radio.

"I read you. How far out are you?" Relica responded, not removing the binocs from her face for a moment.

"Not far out now I think." Venik's voice came back tiredness faintly evident even through the crackle.

"What direction? I can't seem to find you even with..." She began pausing as she spotted a figure in the distance. "Ah, there you are!" She declared almost triumphantly sighting her comrade amid the snowfield of debris.

"You have visual on me then?" He asked with a slight chuckle.

"That I do...you are still quite the ways out though." She said worry edging into her voice.

A sigh was heard clearly through the crackling along with some words that fortunately she couldn't quite work out thanks to the static.

"Got some good news though," Relica said hoping to give him some hope.

"And what is that?" A slightly disheartened sounding Venik said.

"It seems that the stuff we managed to salvage has been enough for Naii too cobble together a beacon and by my calculations so long as it all goes well the signal should reach the nearest hyperspace lane in a few days." She replied in a jovial tone.

"Now that is good news...but really only a few days?" He responded quickly, doubt evident in his tone.

"Well so long as the storm doesn't return and his beacon holds out…" she started pausing as she thought how to continue without furthering the white lie she was telling them both.

"There is a but. I can hear it in your voice Relica." Venik said calmly through the static of the radio.

"Well then we just have to hope there are no Imps lingering around for any survivors and that the right people choose to acknowledge our signal and not ignore it thinking it could be an Imp trap," she continued quickl.y

"So how many scenarios have you thought of then?" he chuckled out causing a blush to creep its way onto her face.

"I...well...not that many just several...maybe a dozen...or two" Relica said quietly growing more embarrassed as the man finally made his way over too her and continued to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up" she said sending him a playful scowl.

"Come on let's get inside," she instructed noting the blue tint to his lips as he removed the wraps he'd had covering half his face. Not waiting for a reply she grabbed his arm and began pulling him back into the base remnants.

* * *

Naii had sat down next to the monstrosity of a beacon that he had managed to create. He focused on the low rhythmic blooping of the machine. 'So long as it's making that noise there is hope' he thought his eyes starting to droop now he has nothing overly urgent to do.

He jumped awake as a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Are you okay Naii?" Relica asked worry creasing her brow

"Yeah i am fine just tired" he responded standing up and stretching

"We are all tired, although it is good to hear you got that...thing running" the voice of Venik said a hint of humour in his tone

"Kid, good to see you made it back safe" Naii said, a small smile forming on his face as he turn to look at the man who may well have saved his life.

"Yeah, no thanks to you old man." Venik laughed at the man's reaction to being called old.

It always ruffled his feathers being called old but he guessed it was true in a way. While he wasn't an old man yet he was certainly no match for the youth of Venik and Relica.

"yeah , so i got the weather system wrong we all make mistakes" Naii huffed.

"How does it look out there?" Naii asked curiously being the only one of the trio to have not emerged out of the base since he had awoken.

"Well the only way it would look better would be if a death star attacked" Relica joked darkly.

Throwing the woman a look which made his distaste of her joke known he turned to Venik.

"Seriously. What is it like?" he asked again his question more demanding of an answer this time.

"It's grim" Venik said giving him his answer.

"There is no cleaning up that mess anytime soon" he continued.

"So like i said only way it would look better would be if a death star helped in the clean up" Relica said again more seriously this time.

"No other survivors then?" Naii said his question not needing an answer by the look on Veniks face.

"No but i did find something" he said a smile appearing on his face.

"Oh?" Relica said surprised he hadn't said something to her about it

"What is it kid?" Naii asked his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well while i didn't find anyone else i managed to scavenge some more bits." Venik said his smile growing wide.

"Is that is?" Relica queried her brow furrowed in confusion as to why he would wait to announce that.

"Well.." Venik started, pausing for dramatic effect.

"Come on Venik out with it" Naii said growing ever more impatient with each passing second.

Chuckling at the older mans impatience, Venik looked up at the man and woman who now stood in front of him. "I found an X-Wing."


	4. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Star Wars: Last Orders

Chapter Three - Some Assembly Required

Written By ShawnMorgan

Naii looked at Venik. "That's an X-Wing?" His voice was muffled by his cold weather clothing and since his goggles were down, because the morning glare on Hoth was brutal. Snow blindness had always been a constant threat here

Naii was looking dubiously at the craft, with its partly mangled wings, half its laser cannons missing, other parts strewn behind it where the pilot must have tried desperately to land. The empty cockpit suggested that said pilot had made it out.

Venik shrugged, his own features similarly hidden as he explained. "Well, an X-Wing is kind of stretching it. I mean it will be once several dozen parts have been put together, and dug out of the snow, damaged parts replaced."

"So, it's an X-Wing in the same way that those AT-ATs put there are Imperial Walkers." Naii jerked his thumb in the general direction gestured to where the very few Walkers the defenders had taken down lay, now coated with a few layers of snow here and there.

Venik shrugged, "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

"Oh, what's another way of Putting it?"

"Venik smiled smugly, "Well, we have more of a chance of getting off this brandy accessory of a planet than we did before."

Naii chewed that over. "Yeah, yeah we do, damned good work, shame we have so much more to do. Hey kid, ever heard of 'Screwballs?"

Venik looked curiously at Naii. "Isn't that when you put a whole load of screwed up ship parts together and hope it flies?"

Naii smiled, "So imagine putting X-wing parts with snowspeeder and Tie and even AT-AT parts together."

"Sounds like something we could take the Devastator one with."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we fly into it and explode, killing everyone round horribly in big explosion."

"Venik."

Naii?"

"Even Rogue One had a better plan of action than that."

"Yeah, but they forgot the important bit."

"And that was?"

"Getting back off the planet again."

* * *

Relica listened to her comrades then discuss the parts they'd need to make a viable craft with Venik proposing certain ideas and Naii shooting a lot of them down. It made sense for even though Venik's ideas were interesting they were pushed for time.

She'd never heard of an X-AT-AT-TIE before. It definitely needed a better name. So before they were stuck with such a dumb name she walked over to them,

"We got a name for this thing yet?" When they both shrugged, she said, "Echo One."

Naii smiled. "How did you come up with it?"

"Our call signs now and because it's an echo of hope and It also works because it's the first ship we we'll built together as an 'echo' of the rebellion as a whole."

Naii replied. "Right, that's enough of that, we need to scavenge everything we can realistically use. A workable hull for half a dozen people is our primary concern Three at the obvious barebones minimum."

Relica looked at him, puzzled. "Why six?"

"In case there are any other survivors."

"Alright, I suppose the next part we need to consider ar the engines?"

Venik replied. "No point building anything that can't fly."

"So, hull, engines, life support, Astronavigation. And if it comes right down to it, if we need to go, then even weapons and shields can be ignored, Not ideal I know, but if we had ideal,we'd all be on a planet like Naboo right now."

* * *

The next morning found the three hapless rebels gearing up for a foray into the battlefield. They were lucky enough for the day's weather to be calm although that didn't make it any warmer.

With the glare of the distant sun behind her, Relica stood on an icy ridge that gave her a good view of the immediate area. Bodies lay frozen half in and out of the ice. The defense cannons lay shattered, a strong indicator of the state of Echo base itself. Destroyed equipment and discarded weapons lay all around as she trudge forwards.

"Relica, I know." It was Naii that spoke, and with one hand he gently encouraged Relica forwards and towards survival.

She walked forwards and fell into step with Venik, and they trudge on, hoping, if only ironically that they would benefit from the Imperial war machine. Their first target was a Walker with tow cables wrapped around its gargantuan mechanical legs.

"Nice work, whoever did that," said Relica. Spooling out her rope and readying herself for the ascent along the side of the Walker, she tugged the rope to make sure it was secure.

"Probably Luke Skywalker," answered Venik, as he attached his own rope and harness, preparing for his second ascent of an imperial Walker in a week.

"I hope it wasn't skywalker to be honest." Relica and Venik paused to look at Naii, awaiting further explanation which he swifty supplied.

"If every great victory comes from Luke Skywalker and his friends, then there isn't really that much hope for the rebellion. Seriously, name me another famous rebel hero."

"That bunch of idiots on the Ghost?" Venik spoke as he launched his grapnel

Naii was about to correct him by name but shrugged: 'That bunch of idiots' was what they had been known to call themselves, after all. "Now name someone else."

"Jyn Erso."

That was a good enough answer for Naii and he motioned for Venik to begin his ascent. Relica followed second with Naii watching their backs, all them waiting a good few seconds for the others to gain traction.

Relica didn't have to wonder why Venik was going so slowly up what was a fairly simple climb. There were handholds and ridges. When an unexpected gust of wind made her losing half her grip, She was grateful for all her training. Sparing a glance down, she saw that Naii had gripped hold of the walker ready, bracing himself in case Relica fell.

Grunting with the effort of regaining her position, she tugged twice on the rope to get the other two know that she was ready to continue their ascent. She hauled herself over the ridge and waited for the slower Naii to appear. With a grunt of effort he made it over.

The three of them stopped. Relica watched, bemused, as Naii kicked the walker. "Seriously?" she said, "You're kicking a destroyed Walker?"

"What, you think I'd try booting a working one?" said Naii with a stupid ear to ear grin. "I'm just happy that I have more working legs than this thing!"


	5. A GOOD BET

Star Wars: Last Orders

Chapter Four - A Good Bet

Written By Jedireaper

"I can't tell if that's debris from falling spacecraft, or if it's the blasted meteorites that pepper the system," Naii shouted as he picked himself up from the snowbank having thrown himself there for cover.

"Either way, that was a close one," Relica said, brushing snow off of her equipment. "Maybe we should check it out?"

"Maybe." Naii grabbed up his Macrobinoculars and focused on the pluming smoke indicating an impact that must have been just under a kilometre away. "But if they get any closer, it'll be checking us out."

"It's your call," she said as she dragged the plasma torch back over to the hulking carcass of the Imperial Walker, sparking it up. "And I can't believe you just made a Hotel joke."

He lowered the Macrobinoculars, satisfied that the heat readings and various factors told him it seemed to be just another run of the mill meteor. "Just thinking of sunnier climes."

Naii started trudging back towards Relica. It'd been nearly a week since they'd set-up the beacon and still no sign of anything. They'd been keeping busy, though, building the thing of beauty in the meantime, but that might well go nowhere (and not through lack of trying); but at least it was keeping their spirits up. He stopped short as the large chuck of armour plating Relica had been cutting fell away into the snow with a thump, revealing a host of complex pipes and electronic panels. "Maybe we should have gone at them with a few plasma torches," Naii half joked.

Relica turned off the plasma torch with a satisfied look on her face. She pulled off her goggles and gloves, and wiped her eyes. "That would have taken too long." She paused as she pried away some of the panels and chucked them into the snow. "Worthless junk. Oh," she smiled and pulled out another panel carefully this time and placed it into her pack, "that's what we're after."

"You know what you're doing?"

"Of course," she replied gleefully, getting back to pulling out panels with seemingly reckless abandon.

Naii shook his head and turned to face the plume of smoke that had started to ebb away now against the clear blue sky. "We'd better head back soon."

* * *

The craft (if you could call it that) was an ugly thing of beauty (as Naii had often named it). The veteran soldier had taken a particular interest in the ungainly looking machine. It was difficult to say for certain exactly what it was; but to break it down Venik could point out the head of an AT-AT walker making up the main body, with the fuselage of two X-Wings on their sides, with their nose cones and cockpit cut away, welded to each side mount.

On each chopped down X-Wing chassis were four (partly scrounged) 4L4 fusial thrust engines, but the wings those engines were normally attached to were also cut down to just the engine mounts. The deposed laser cannons were propped up against the ice wall, unneeded.

The landing struts were made up of two of an AT-AT's feet to make a bottom, and the main laser cannons the Walker used were still attached; not that they'd do much good after one or two shots.

Apart from bits and pieces of other various systems and ships (including a TIE fighter solar wing they'd found) to jury rig, it was coming together. They'd been building it for just over a week now, and still they had had no sign of rescue.

The last time Venik had checked, the pulse beacon was still functioning, but that was yesterday. Though Relica had said that she was a bit uncertain how long it would truly take, and he wasn't at all convinced the signal would extend that far anyway.

He sighed and sat back, having finished wiring up the life support systems of each X-Wing as he'd been shown, into the head of the Imperial Walker. At least they'd be able to breathe.

He set aside the tool he'd been using and stood up. They'd cleared some of the junk that had collapsed and made a space large enough to work in and launch out of. If it ever flew. There was still a few controls and the like to scrounge and program and Relica seemed to have that covered. She was a bit of a wonder that girl.

The sound of cracking ice and crunching snow brought his attention to the arrival of his two companions and he turned to greet them. "Did you find it?"

"Sure did," came Relica's reply, "though we'll need to do a second run." She indicated the pack that was filled with different components of various type as she dropped it next to the spread of tools he'd just been using.

"Tag," came Naii's quick response, as he placed a hand on Venik's shoulder. "We'll also need to scrounge up some more supplies. Rations," he added, "mostly."

Venik took one glance at the _Screwball_ , swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, no problem."

* * *

Dusk was beginning to set in and besides the striking visual aspect, she could feel it. The sky was a vibrant contrast of a dim pale blue with swathes of bright orange painting the white clouds. "We'd better hurry," Relica said calmly.

"Yeah, we don't want to have to spend the night together in one of those steely ice boxes."

Relica suddenly turned to face him; her blue eyes stern, and her voice was probably more scaving then she'd intended. "And _what_ would be the problem with spending a night with me!?"

"I-" Venik faltered. He barely knew this person before him. Yeah they'd spent the last few weeks together just surviving they didn't really know each other. They'd all did their duties to the Rebellion but they'd never really met. Till that tunnel collapsed.

"Well?!"

"I wasn't trying to-" He could see the look in her eyes and he collected his thoughts quickly. "No," he returned her gaze, "there wouldn't be." _Why was that such an issue for her?_

" _Listen fly-boy, I don't know you, you don't know me, but we're-"_

Then he spotted it, in his peripheral vision, the black appendaged silhouette. _What the krif is that!? No time to think!_ He grabbed Relica, to the surprised and bemused look on her face, and toppled them both into the snow.

"Really I-"

The blaster shot flashed red through the air and cut Relica short. They both scrambled into cover from this strange creature that was firing blaster bolts at them, spraying them with loosened snow.

"What," she breathed, "is that!?"

"An Imperial Probe droid!" Venik shouted as they slid into the gully between the two snow drifts. He'd gotten a good look at it as it came over the drift after them, this droid giving chase and firing at them.

Venik darted left, forcing the droid to have to pick between targets, and it's shot landed between them both. As he scrambled up the opposite snowbank he lost his footing and tumbled back down towards their hunter, losing his grip on his blaster as he slid to the bottom, half buried by snow.

There it was, laying just a metre from him; and there was the aggressive droid, appendages twirling and blaster mount aiming. It seemed to be buzzing some kind droid language at him. _No time._ Venik lunged forward grabbing the blaster pistol and coming up in a kneeling firing position.

There was a bright red flash and a wave of warmth that knocked Venik back into the snowbank he'd tumbled down, arm over his face as the debris from the exploding droid showered him.

"Nice shot," he muttered as he lowered his arm from shielding his face and stared grimly at the multi-appendaged thing that now sat in smoking pieces before him in the snow.

"Thanks." Relica pulled off her face wraps revealing her bronze-coloured and somewhat frazzled hair. "You're welcome by the way."

"I had it," Venik balked at her, his eyes flicking between her and the probe droid's remains.

"Yeah, well," Relica looked at him steadily, with a stern tone in her voice, "it _had_ you. So I wasn't taking any chances. Okay!?"

Venik grimaced, and reholstered his blaster, as he crouched down to inspect the droids lifeless parts.

"So that's it then," she turned to face Venik, holstering her own blaster pistol, "the Empire knows we're here."

"It's," he took in a deep breath, "a good bet."

* * *

The Star Destroyer's bridge was a hum of the normal day-to-day shipboard activity. The Commander, stood facing the transparisteel viewports and the mottled darkness of space beyond. He could hear the clipped clack of boots on the ceramic deck plates approaching him, and he turned to face those footfalls.

"What do you have?" He asked, his voice steady.

An Imperial officer, a Lieutenant, straightened his uniform and his own posture at being addressed by the Commander. "The report is only a fragment, from a probe droid in the Hoth system."

"The Hoth system?" The Commander asked him skeptically.

The Lieutenant nodded. "Yes, sir. The readings seem to suggest there are still a few stragglers that escaped our net."

"Hmm," the Commander leaned forward, curiosity in his eyes. "It could be scavengers, or raiders. It could be smugglers. We do have to be sure of these things."

"But sir," the Lieutenant started, "the Hoth system was supposed to have been made _devoid_ of human life."

The senior officer eyed the younger man carefully, then nodded. "Very well," he said (as if he'd given up the goose to the gander), "send a patrol and have them pick up these _stragglers_ whomever they may be."

"Yes, sir."


	6. ROLL OVER

Star Wars: Last Orders

Chapter Five - Roll Over

Written By Princess-Aurora-Bunny

Edited By Jedireaper

Naii had been back at base, tinkering with his makeshift beacon when the familiar voice of Venik crackled through his comlink.

"Echo one to base. Echo one to base." Venik's voice sounded urgent.

"I hear you. What's up?" He asked, worried at the tone with which the other man was using.

"You're not going to like it," Venik said bluntly.

"What is it?" Naii was on his feet, and practically demanding down the comm line.

"An Imp probe droid," Venik replied, "and I reckon it got a signal out too."

"Kark!" The older man cursed.

"Are you both okay?"

"Yeah we are," Venik told him which helped to calm the veterans nerves some, "Relica is with what's left of the probe seeing if she can scavenge anything that may be useful… well from what is left of it that is."

"Well I hope she finds something, kid. If anyone can she just might," the veteran said, smiling to himself.

"Yeah," came Venik's response.

"Was there something else?" Naii asked

"Well...it looks to me like there's another storm rolling in, so we are probably going to hole up in one of the AT-AT's don't worry if we don't return… if anything happens contact us and we will do are best to get to you." Venik tried to sound as cheery as possible about that, but it fell in light of the probe business. The Imps could _turn up_ tomorrow morning.

"Alright you two, stay safe. If anything happens use one of those signal flares, and I'll do what I can for you both. I'll keep my eyes peeled till first light," he responded.

With that the commlinks went silent.

'This is going to be one long night' Naii thought, his mind swirling with all sorts of possibilities.

* * *

Relica had nearly finished going through the intact bits of the probe. She was proud of herself. She had gotten a very good hit, but then again she had always been a good shot. Still, she didn't expect the thing to explode, 'It must have had a self destruct.'

She chuckled remembering the look on Venik's face as his determined expression turned to slight bewilderment and amazement at the shot she had taken. He'd lamented as much but still told her he'd had it in that almost typical Corellian sense.

However she knew better; and had he seen what she had, he would've known that it was a nano-second away from killing him. She shuddered at the idea; it wasn't something that she wanted to think about.

Her thoughts drifted to their earlier conversation, where she had been quick to take offence at what he'd said. Sure, they didn't really know each other; hell, if they hadn't ended up stranded here, they may well have never met at all. But still, it'd _upset_ her, which she knew was a little irrational, though he had meant nothing by it... especially since they now had no option but to spend the night together out here.

It was that or risk freezing.

'Maybe I'll make a friend,' she thought a small but hopeful smile appearing on her face. She didn't have that many friends. And the friends she did have were most certainly nowhere near this hell hole of a planet anymore; more than likely, they never would be again.

She was worried though. The more she thought about it the more she realized how little beyond their names she knew of both men that were stranded here with her. She worried about what they would want to know about her, or more so what they could find out.

Her train of thought was broken as a hand landed on her shoulder. "Find anything good yet?" Venik asked, standing beside her.

"Well I found its Holocamera...it is beaten up pretty badly though...its sonic sensor isn't too badly damaged though," she responded, brandishing the sensor as it if was some prized trophy, and placing it carefully on the pile of junk she'd collected from it.

"It's getting a bit on the minus side out here." Venik looked at the diminishing light as the dark clouds rolled in. The wind was beginning to pick up too. "It might be worth us climbing inside the fallen walker we passed before it gets worse. You got everything you need?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Relica shivered and pulled her facewraps tighter, "and I noticed!" Relica responded hurriedly having to raise her voice as the wind began to pick up, blowing the snowdrift back over them. "How far is the walker!?"

"About a klick or so that way!" Venik was finding himself practically shouting as the wind began to howl. "This storm is coming in fast!"

She nodded, gathering everything up as quickly as she could. Motioning, "After you!"

* * *

"It's howling loud enough to wake a dead wampa out there!" He watched as Relica worked away trying to get, as she put it 'the kriffing pathetic hunk of junk' to work at least enough to provide them with some warmth.

Relica cursed as a spark caught her already freezing fingertips, making any feeling she had numb away even further. Even if it was only a little, she'd get this damn environmental system to spit out warm air.

Venik was sat there feeling a bit useless. He had a good knowledge on TIE fighters, X-Wings and the like but these monolithic-looking contraptions...he didn't even know where to begin. But this woman: Relica; she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Ah-ha!" She exclaimed. "That should do it!"

He watched as she proudly walked over to the console she was swearing at earlier, pressed a series of buttons and flicked some switches. Before he knew it something was rumbling with in the metal giant and a warmer than freezing blast of air flowed over them.

"Nice work," Venik told her as warmth began to envelope him. "You sure know your way around these Imp walkers. I'm impressed."

"I know," Relica replied, chuckling at his reaction.

"Unfortunately there are no blankets, bed rolls or pillows. Seems like they cleared it out before they left," Venik said causing Relica to frown.

"Well...so long as this hunk of junk keeps running, we can use our jackets as pillows. And…" she added quietly, almost under her breath, "huddle if we need warmth." Relica's cheeks reddened a touch as she looked away from him.

Seeing her apparent discomfort he continued, "I found a couple of food packs so come sit down and eat...you've been working to get that up and running for about two hours now," Venik told her.

Relica removed some of her gear as the AT-AT began to slowly warm up. He watched as she removed her cold weather cap and face wrap allowing her hair to fall limply down in its braid. Venik looked away as she began unzipping her jacket her eyes having caught him watching her and her sending him a knowing smirk.

He quickly followed suit removing his own helmet, jacket and face wrap as he began to feel rather hot. She sat down in front of him and he offered her some food which she more than happily took.

The sounds of the weather outside their steely confines perturbed the awkward silence that had fallen between them as they ate the self heated rations.

"So…" Relica began, breaking the silence, "where are you from?"

"The slums of Coronet on Corellia," he responded, "not the nicest of places to grow up...what about yourself?"

"Serenno," she replied.

"Never heard of it." He said, earning a forlorn sigh from the the person opposite him. He looked over at her to see that she seemed to be in deep thought.

"So...what's it like on Serenno?" he asked trying to keep the conversation going

She looked at him and wiped her mouth to rid it of any food.

"Depending where you go it is beautiful. High mountains, misty rivers and rainforests. Even the ocean is beautiful...the savannah isn't much to look at though," she said with a chuckle, "it's all sand." She continued describing her homeworld to him, and only really stopped when she realised she sounded like the holonet article that described the very same planet.

"So," Relica asked between mouthfuls, "what's it like?...Coronet city, I mean."

"Uh, it's nice is suppose...so long as you avoid all the lower residential areas. There is some nice architecture and it is on the coast so some of the views are amazing especially when the sun is setting..." he responded thoughtfully thinking of his home city. "But I haven't spent much time there since the Empire took over. I left as soon as the credits allowed."

"Will you go back someday?" Relica quizzed a soft smile on her face. "Y'know: 'The Jewel of Corellia' and all that. Most Corellians I meet are proud to the point of stubborn."

"Well...I wouldn't go that far...it is certainly no gem!" He replied laughing. His reaction made her laugh. He had heard her chuckle and snigger a couple of times over the week they had been stuck on Hoth but never laugh and he found himself liking it. He liked how musical it sounded to his ears and found himself wanting to hear her laugh more often. The thought made him blush and look down at what was remaining of his food.

"Serenno," " she continued herself, "was known for its open opposition and distaste for the Empire...what was lesser known is of our opulence," she told him a smile still plastered on her face.

"I mean you should see the different palaces!" she almost shouted as if excited about the thought of them.

"Palaces?" He asked

"Yes...surely you have heard of the houses of Serenno?" she answered then asking a question of her own.

"No...but still...i would have thought they were y'know...houses" he managed out blushing slightly in embarrassment as she chuckled at what he had said.

"No...that wouldn't be fancy enough for them…" she said thoughtfully letting her voice trail off as they finished their meal.

* * *

She couldn't sleep. The floor was hard and uncomfortable, and to top it off, she could feel the creeping cold permeating through the metal. 'The heating system must have cut out' she thought. Relica looked across an Venik and saw that he seemed to also be awake.

"Are you awake Venik?" she asked and watched and he rolled over to look at her

"Yeah I am," he replied. "Sounds like the winds have died down. Blasted cold though…"

"Yeah i noticed…" she stated, "you can't get comfortable either huh?" She threw him a small smile.

She got an affirmative from him, but she knew logically that if they got closer that body heat would solve their mutual problem, but she felt too embarrassed to ask.

"So...just on a survival training level, if we...um...get...closer...it might help to...stave off the cold." he managed through the shivers in his voice, which Relica could either put down to the cold, or nervousness..

"Y-yeah t-that's...logical," she responded, averting her eyes.

"Roll over," she heard him say as he shuffled closer.

His actions caused her face to feel as if it was on fire as she felt his body pressed against hers. Although, she couldn't help but notice how comforting the heat from his body felt as her heavy lids slid shut and she drifted off to sleep.


	7. GETTING WARMER

Star Wars: Last Orders

Chapter Six - Getting Warmer

Written By ShawnMorgan

With Additional Material Written By Jedireaper

"So that's it then?" Naii Rofteun asked sceptically.

"Yep!" Relica Worbash responded in earnest, stepping back and admiring what was mostly her handywork.

"We can leave?" Venik Tyorran added in his own question.

"Well, we should probably test it, but on a technical level, yes. I think so."

Both men turned to her rather quickly, "You _think_ so!?"

Relica rolled her eyes. "It's not as if I've ever taken it up before, is it?"

"Fair enough," said Venik, "and it's not as though we have any other option."

* * *

 _Three days earlier..._

It was absolutely freezing, even for Hoth. Venik and Relica trudged their way through the changed landscape, among the ice blasted hunks of crashed airspeeders and Imperial walker wreckage painted in the morning light.

Laboriously dragging a TIE Solar panel, the two struggled up a snow drift that could only have been caused by last evening's came to a ridge and halted. They were about a klick away from Echo base now, though their aching legs, ankle deep in the snow and ice made it feel more like ten. But at least it was downhill the rest of the way.

Venik looked over his right shoulder at Relica. "Hey, we have a large flat steel panel."

Relica looked at him, "And it's all downhill from here on right?"

"Sabbac!" He said with a grin.

* * *

Naii heard a high pitched screeching sound and grabbed his blaster, ready to fight. He was ready for rabid undead Tauntauns, Wampas or even an Imperial clean up crew. When he saw what it was, off and who the owners of the whooping cries were , he smiled ever so slightly and muttered, "Twenty Seven ."

Reholstering his blaster, he strode to a nice out of the way wall and chuckled as the younger rebels skidded into the main entry chamber on their makeshift sled. "First time I've ever been happy to see the wing of a TIE."

* * *

Now...

"Alright," said Naii, as looked at the desperate little ship, "I've siphoned as much fuel into it as I can and we're still going to find it hard going to get anywhere significant."

"Huh," said Relica, "if we even get off this ice cube of a planet."

"Good thing we have a Hyperdrive… please tell me we have a working hyperdrive." Venik was practically pleading with Relica.

Naii looked at her too. "Let's go with what we've got and not the wish list. If we went with that, we'd be here all day."

Relica took a deep breath, then began. "Jumping to hyperspace is an impossible to calculate risk." she paused for emphasis, "either we'll be fine or we'll end up as a fine paste along all over the rear hull. Besides, this is the navigational jump storage from inside this."

She held out her hand, letting the two men see what she was holding in her open palm was a small metallic rectangular object.

"Is that what I think it is?" Venik asked.

"Yes, the navigational jump storage drive form inside this," she pointed to her left, "faulty abandoned Astromech." Relica smiled, "I call him Sparky," she said with an almost childlike glee.

"Why Sparky?"

"You'll see. Sparky here," she leaned down and reslotted the component, "is going to calculate the impossible for us." As Relica reached for the activator she paused, "I do warn you, he has a bit of a, uh…" she searched for the right word, " _personality_."

"And we have blasters," said Naii.

"Ok-ayy," Venik said, Just if you do lose your temper with the droid, make sure it's after we've exited Hyperspace, huh?"

Naii laughed, "fine, I'll just kick it form one of the ship to the other; it won't take long."

"You keep your hands, and feet, off _my_ droid. Okay."

Naii rolled his eyes, "Fine..." he muttered. "Just make sure it does its job..

Relica nodded and reactivated the droid.

"Wopper wurble whmp whmp." As it reactivated, sparks coruscated alongs is body. Then it sped off towards what a month ago had been the evacuation route.

"Sparky, heel!" Relica's command caused the droid to halt and turn around. Then it sped back towards her, coming to an abrupt stop inches from her feet, causing _Sparky_ to topple over.

"And this is our navigator." Naii said it with a flat tone, watching as the droids head broke off from impact and rolled in a semicircle till it too came to a stop..

* * *

"Well, take-off went better than expected," Venik said, guiding the craft onward. "How's air recycling going back there Relica?"

"We're still breathing right? No tight breath or light headedness?"

"I'm fine," said Naii."

"How about you, Venik?"

"I'm good."

"Well then, air reclam is going pretty good then I'd say."

Naii grunted his agreement as he continued to watch the -thankfully empty- sensors (with no idea as to whether they worked or not) for any sign of Imperial pursuit.


	8. FEELING THE HEAT

Star Wars: The Last Orders

Chapter Seven - Feeling The Heat

Written By Jedireaper

"I got it! I got it!" Naii shouted as he grabbed at the black hose that was flailing around spraying a jet of a steam-like gas into their surrogate cockpit. The droid, _Sparky_ , seemed to be doubling as a cockpit alarm (doing a fair imitation of the hose) as it spun its parts, flailed its appendages, and shrieked. "Someone shut him up before I blast him back into pieces!"

"Don't you dare!" Relica bit back at the older Rebel, turning to see him wrapped in tubing and wiring, with sparks and steam rising off of the man. "And it was your fault!"

" _My_ fault!?" Naii slammed the hose back into its socket and sealed it. "Listen missy, I know you have some weird motherly obsession with that stanging thing, but if it hadn't started doing that, I'd have never've been knocked into these."

"You're the one that pushed him!" Relica started. "Besides, you didn't have to stand up, Naii."

It was at this point that Sparky's shrieking had stopped and he started warbling some kind of tune. One that Naii was certain was just to annoy them (or just him) further. "Venik, back me up here."

"Can you all shut up!" Except for the hiss, a loud humm, and the sound of the various jury-rigged systems and displays, the cockpit fell into a surprised silence. Venik continued, "In case you haven't noticed, this is the head of an Imperial Walker, not a Lambda-class shuttle. It was never supposed to be where it is now, and we were kriffin' lucky it got out of the atmosphere. Never mind taking us to another system."

Venik took his eyes off the displays and turned and eyed each one of them one at a time. His voice was calm as he spoke, "So I'd appreciate it," he motioned to the view before them, "if we could all focus on helping it do that task. Or I _will_ crash us back onto that ice cube, and I will."

Even the droid seemed to be paying attention to him, as a spark shot out from his slightly crookedly attached domed head, his photoreceptor focussing seemingly on Venik. He then whirred and chirped, hopping back and forth, as if he was dancing.

"Sparky, shut up, or I'll let Naii shoot you. Just start calculating the jump to the closest inhabited system. The hard part's about to begin."

With that the droid stopped, and turned its domed head slowly around to face the wall where he was connected to a computer port, warbling indignantly to itself.

"Uh, Ven..."

"What?" He turned to face Relica who was sat next to him.

She pointed out the view-window, "I think you're right."

* * *

The twin half dagger shaped light-cruiser dropped out of hyperspace into the star-studded vista of the Hoth system, just above it's sixth planet. Two TIE fighters detached from the single docking ports on either side of the ship, leaving a third docked just beneath the main hull where a distinctive deep split cleaved the bow into two prongs.

The fighters immediately sped on ahead of their larger vessel, heading towards the small spec of light moving out of the atmosphere of the bright white planet below.

The Captain of the vessel must have been thanking their lucky stars that even through the insurmountable odds that faced finding a single ship in a system filled with so many meteorites; they'd dropped into space right of top of this one.

* * *

"Must've spoken too soon... Strap in!" Venik shouted as he wrestled with the vessel's controls.

The first flashes of green energy bolts few past and then the communications array lit up. A clipped voice broke over the speaker, "Unknown and," the voice paused, disgust evident in her tone, " _ugly_ vessel, this is the Imperial Patrol Cruiser Shadowdawn. Heave to, and prepare for inspection. We have reason to believe you are fleeing Rebels. Comply or we will vaporise you!"

Naii gripped onto the seat as the _Echo_ _One_ started a series of evasive maneuvers at the behest of it's pilot. "Can we fire at them, these Walker cannons pack a hell of a punch."

Relica shook her head. "I doubt it."

Venik glanced at her, "We have shields though, right?"

"Uh," Relica seemed a bit at a loss for a moment before the droid started responding for her with unsatisfied bleeps. "No," she confirmed, "not ones that'll stand up to combat. Maybe one or two shots, but then we'll be shredded apart by micrometeorites."

Venik gritted his teeth. "Great! I'm flying an all-but-defenceless bath tub. Where's a Jedi when you need him."

* * *

"Rebel ship. Cut your engines and prepare to be taken into custody. This is your final warning." The officer narrowed her eyes and stepped away from the communications console. "No response, sir. Typical Rebel scum."

The bridge of the Arquitens-class cruiser was almost a far cry from the more imposing Imperial Star Destroyer's. It was by comparison cramped, with only really enough room for fifteen crew to man and control the functions of the entire ship. It was however a far smaller warship; and much older in design.

The Captain of the vessel clasped his hands together, a smile on his aged features. "I had hoped this would be easy. And so it will be. Fire at will."

* * *

The laser cannons on the Shadowdawn targeted the haphazard vessel, and green energy beams zipped in to towards the erratically moving target from four dual turbolaser batteries, and an assortment of lighter laser cannons.

* * *

Venik barely scraped them through the volley from the larger ship before the two TIE fighters came roaring in, spitting their own green fire upon the heavily armoured but lightly defended craft, bouncing her about.

The bolts scored marks across the _hull_ and blasted off the solar wing array that had been mounted on top of the upper hull of the cockpit sending it into a unpredictable spin as the reflective black solar panel spun in Echo One's wake.

"Blasted TIEs!" Naii exclaimed, as the ship shook all around them. "Can't we do something about them!"

Relica grimaced, and nodded, pulling up the targeting function of the heavy laser cannons nestled under the hull below their feet. "If the cannons don't explode, and we don't explode, then we have maybe a one-in-two chance to fire of one or two rounds."

"Hang on!" Venik threw them into a controlled corkscrew loop, pushing the inertial dampeners to their limit and feeling the whole hunk of metal lurch as the stars beyond spun. "You'll have one chance to get off a shot so make it count."

"Ready!" Relica said determinedly. Calming her mind, she watched the targeting display and the view-window as they came about face-on to one of the two TIE fighters that had been chasing them, and the Imperial Patrol vessel only just behind them.

Sparks flew from the various electrical panels behind him and Naii could only watch as the two maniacs controlled their fate. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Well, I don't like it either. Sparky, you got that jump calculated?" Venik asked the droid, and got an affirmed _negative_. "I don't care if you are doing a million things at once, soon as that jump is calculated, don't wait. Just put us into hyperspace."

The droid seemed to grumble at that but it wasn't Venik's concern. He watched as the TIE fighter came into the targeting scopes and saw Relica prepare to fire, when something occurred to him. "Wait," he placed a hand on her arm. "I have an idea."

* * *

Commander Shara blinked as she watched the ugly looking thing come about and head straight for them. _What in the blazes do that think they are doing_?

"They're moving to attack position," the Captain uttered in disbelief. "They can't possibly think they can damage us or even escape us with such a moronic maneuver. Let this be their last pitiful act. Destroy them!"

"The targeting computers are having difficulty getting a solid lock, their energy reading is erratic."

Shara leaned on the bridge viewport-sill peering at the ship rapidly approaching them, with the TIE fighters right on their tail. "What are they up too?" She muttered to herself.

It was then she spotted it: The heavy cannons of the very recognisable Imperial Walker head. _Those are powerful enough to pierce these bridge viewports_! She turned rapidly and grabbed hold of the hand rail bracing herself. "Angle the deflector shields!" She shouted. _Too late_...

* * *

Relica loosed the heavy cannons, and saw the brief registration of shock upon the faces of the men and women within the bridge as they sped past, and the bridge seemed to explode beneath them.

"You did it," Venik said with a grin on his face.

"It worked!" Relica cried giddily. "I don't want to try that again…"

Naii leaned forwards, placing a hand on Relica's shoulder. "Good shooting. And nice flying kid. I didn't think we were gonna survive that."

"It's not over." Venik deadpanned.

The TIE fighters screamed in, blasters blazing a green trail, buffeting the hodgepodge ship. Relica could see the small explosion ripping through the right-side X-Wing chassis that doubled as their engine mounts, tearing three of the eight sublight engines from their housing.

It sent them into a blind tumble. Gas and gouts of flame erupting from the breached side of the hull.

It was then that Sparky made a triumphant series of bleeps and bloops and whirring noises, as everyone was suddenly pressed back into their seats.

* * *

The TIE fighters moved in to finish off their kill, only to find their prey suddenly speeding forwards and disappearing into hyperspace.

* * *

Commander Shara coughed. She gripped the side of a console, staring out the few intact viewports of the Shadowdawn's bridge. Smoke clung in the air and electrical fires burned. Bodies of crew that hadn't been sucked out were lain around the now sealed breached hull.

Her free hand applied pressure to the wound above her left eye as she attempted to stop the bleeding; her uniform stained and singed. She watched through one eye, as the blasted ugly thing accelerated into hyperspace and then she collapsed into unconsciousness.


	9. A SHORT TRIP

Star Wars: The Last Orders

Chapter Eight - A Short Trip

Written By Princess-Aurora-Bunny

Edited and Additional Material Written By Jedireaper

The screams of both human and machine where all that could be heard as they hurtled through hyperspace, being able to feel their unsightly make-shift ship groan and judder.

"We're going to shake to pieces!" Naii shouted over the screams, his voice panicked, causing Sparky's mechanical screams to grow even louder.

Venik gripped the control console, being almost certain they wouldn't reach their destination. "I think that last TIE fighter shot off our stabiliser!"

As that happened they came to an abrupt stop throwing said astromech into the back of Relica's seat and causing his head to detach from his chassis and roll across their 'cockpit' before coming to rest at her feet.

The ship began tumbling, parts flinging off in every direction, and occasionally before them was a bluish-gray, brown and dusty world. And they were sailing straight for it.

"Grab hold of something!" Venik shouted, as he wrestled with the make-shift controls and tried to guide them towards the solid mass of planet. "This is gonna be rough!"

"Oh fun!" Relica said, leaning forward to secure Sparky's domed head.

* * *

The ship broke into the atmosphere, leaving a streak of air friction in its wake, as it hurtled towards the ground below. A ground which quickly came upon them, as the quasi-ship skimmed over a ridge and scraped into the brown rock and dust. Finally it came to a stop, depositing itself into the side of an outcropping of rock.

* * *

"That was a short trip," Venik coughed as sparks and a thin smoke filled the cockpit.

Relica lifted up the droids still functioning dome head, relaxing a little. "It's over now, ain't that right bud?" The droid responded with happier bleeps and bloops to her, and she could still hear Sparky's body clanging about.

"Uh…Where in the four hells are we?" Venik asked drawing the attention of everyone to the askew horizon of a planet that that looked nothing like the one they intended to go to.

"Weeeeeeeee womp womp," Sparky replied, as his headless body could be heard moving around the back, only drawing their attention back to it as it crashed into Naii's seat.

"What did that infernal thing just say?" Naii questioned as he grabbed it and stopped its movement.

"I'm not sure, something about hyperdrive and death," Relica paused. "Sparky, we were supposed to go to _Bespin_ , what is this place?" she asked, repeating Veniks question, as she walked over to the droid and re-attached its head.

"Wa wa weeeee womp womp waaaaaa booooooop," the droid screeched out.

"Zhanox?" Venik replied nodding, "I read something about that during one of our security zone briefings."

"Eeeeeee buuurrrrr wa wa wa," Sparky said pausing in what was seemingly his little dance.

Naii growled, "What did that rusted bin say?"

"Uhm...he said-"

Venik turned, unstrapping himself from his seat and moved past Relica and Naii. "He said, that I told him, 'soon as that jump is calculated, put us into hyperspace'. He took that to mean any blasted destination."

Sparky started shaking back and forth, beeping and booping at them.

"Okay…you're right," Relica smiled, "I don't think this thing would have made it to Bespin either," she said taking in what her mechanical friend just said as he began whizzing around in a circle.

"But _where_ is Zhanox exactly?" Naii asked the now spinning droid.

"Wub wub burr waah wa wa!" Sparky responded.

"Mining planet," Venik mumbled as he heaved the hatch locking mechanism that was doubling as their airlock.

"That annoying piece of rubbish has brought us to a kriffin' mining planet!" Naii all but shouted causing the droid in question to let out a disgruntled set of womps and waaas. "Great! Just Great!"

* * *

Relica instructed Sparky to stay with their erstwhile-vessel as she didn't know what life forms they would come across, and didn't want the droid's obvious eccentricities to get them into trouble. This went a lot smoother than Naii thought it would as the droid simply let out some happy bleeps.

The air was warm, sticky and a little too thin for his liking, if he was honest. He watched the droid turn around to look at him and he gave Sparky a scorned look as the machine blew a raspberry noise at him.

"Zhanox isn't that bad," Relica began as she joined the two, "I mean, at least we crashed on to a planet that has living beings on it as well as a transport system. If we play our cards right we could be transported to one of the planets they deliver…whatever it is they are mining, to," she finished sounding hopeful.

"Well, like I said, let us hope that they will actually help us," Venik said giving one last glance at their Hoth made contraption, "I hope we never see it again."

As they walked towards what their hand held sensor indicated was some kind of settlement, they were surrounded by what Naii considered to be one of the oddest spieces he'd ever come across: 'Ugnaughts,' he thought, slightly put-off by the creatures he saw. He knew of the species, of how they were not the most highly thought of and that one would not simply greet an Ugnaught with respect. Which is why Relica's next actions confused him.

"Everyone, bow," she whispered. Venik didn't question her, Naii noticed and he was about to say something until Venik quietly nudged him, "Just do it, Naii."

Naii grumbled, rolled his eye's and mockingly said: "Oh take us to your glorious leader."

At the pointed look he received from Relica, for his snide remark as well as the snarls he got from the dwarf creatures pointing guns at them, he decided to just do as she'd suggested. 'Less hassle this way,' he thought.

It didn't take long before a weird guttural purr was heard and it was gestured that they were to follow an Ugnaught that he thought was fairly tall. He or she was taller as Relica, although he doubted that would be too hard, even for this dwarf species.

* * *

A short walk to the foot of a rocky ravine, found them entering an underground tunnel that Naii knew these creatures dwelled in. They passed by many inlets with rudimentary lights, and hangings, with shelves and sleeping areas; and even some large but old pieces of mining equipment. The lights that were strung along the walls and alcoves, and into the cut-ins and rooms, were keeping things a dim but seeable yellow-amber which was enough, even if a little straining on his eyes, to see the curious and even apprehensive faces of those that called this dump home.

They were lead to just outside a room built into the tunnel wall, and then their hosts began squealing and gesturing madly.

Following the gestures as best he could, and taking lead he went to enter the room first, since his two companions were not moving, but his path was blocked by the creature who continued to squeal more insistently. He raised his hands up in a friendly manner and retreated a couple of steps, annoyed by the Ugnaughts lack of communication skills.

The Ugnaught pointed at Relica and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the room.

"I think he just wants me," Relica managed earning a positive grunt from the Ugnaught as they disappeared out of sight behind the primitive covering.

* * *

"Should we do something?" Venik asked quietly, resting a hand on his blaster in a casual manner. Just over a minute had passed since Relica had left them, and he was keenly aware of the two Ugnaughts behind them, holding blasters. The fact that they'd been left with their own weapons were the only thing stopping rash actions if he was honest.

"I dunno kid…" Naii shrugged, and leaned up against the wall. "Hey, what was all that about back there, with all that kriffin' bowing anyway?"

"Respect, Naii. Bowing like that shows them respect," the younger man said with a sigh.

"Creatures like these don't deserve respect," Naii mumbled to himself quietly so the other man didn't hear him. "Let's just hope these things will actually help us then and not hinder us," Naii replied, distaste evident in his tone.

* * *

Relica had been discussing the trio and their droid leaving Zhanox, having explained how they'd gotten there in the first place. She was thankful that these creatures shared no love for the Empire but that same Empire was one of their purchasers. According to the Ugnaught she'd been taken to see, whose name was Grugnik, they had a transport leaving tonight heading for Bespin.

'Lucky us,' she thought sending out a silent prayer to anyone who was listening to ensure all went smoothly.

The odd pair were finishing their awkward conversation, the datapad not doing the best job of translating the squeals. They were just about to discuss price when they heard a commotion outside the room.

Relica could distinctly hear Naii shouting, and sounds of both her compatriots making a ruckus. 'What the kriff have they done?' She thought, sighing as she exchanged looks with Grugnik.

The tall guard Ugnaught, who had remained silent as the elder and Relica had talked, preceded them, lifting the veil as it were and lead Relica and Grugnik into a scene that belied the true nature of what was transpiring before them.

A rather disgruntled Mother holding her Ugling stood above the two figures of Naii and Venik. She was battering the two men with random junk items from her cart. Relica had spent some time around these creatures when she was growing up a she knew there were not many things that would push a Ugnaught to the point in which they'd use violence, yet they had managed to do just that.

At the arrival of the leader, the female Ugnaught started squealing her tale to him, and gesturing wildly at the pair of humans, and Relica watched as her friends tried to stand, Venik getting up first and then helping Naii to his feet.

"What did you two do?"

"We didn't _do_ anything," Venik responded.

"Oh?" Relica asked skeptically, "She just attacked you?"

"Yes!" Naii shouted. "I was simply telling Venik, I'd be nice and then out of the blue she attacked us!"

"Gurr-oink squee," Grugnik said attracting her attention.

"What does that mean?" Venik seemed to notice Relica's confused expression.

"I think he just said you insulted her."

"Wait you understand them?" He asked.

"Only in a very basic sense, a sort of...generalised idea...it is difficult to make out what they say though," she replied.

"How the kriff did we offend her?" Naii asked obviously annoyed.

"Something that you said?" She quizzed growing more confused by the minute.

"Something we said..." Venik repeated, his brow furrowed in thought.

"But all I said was 'I'll be nice'," Naii stated.

Relica studied the man's eyes for a moment, and turned to exchanged a look with Grugnik. Turning back she said, "Are you sure that's all you said, you didn't say anything Huttese did you?"

"No," Venik said, eyes seemingly distant.

"You were both perfect gentlemen?"

Naii nodded, "Yeah, yeah!"

At that a new round of squeals came from the female currently being prevented from hurling more objects by Grugnik, who was letting out a stream of amused snorts and other grunting noises.

Relica sniggered, she'd figured it out. And she began explaining it to the two; "It would seem the female mistook what you said as it sounds similar to an insult,"

"What insult?" Naii demanded.

"Yaa-yaah," she responded.

Naii's expression went from annoyance to joining Venik's in simple disbelief. "You _must_ be joking…"

At Relica's expression, the revelation made both men grumble and mumble to themselves about being attacked due to bad hearing, and assumptions based on their species.

Intending to make the two men before her a bit happier, Relica smiled and said, "I do have good news," this captured their attention, and getting a nod from Grugnik.

"This here is Grugnik," she motioned towards the Ugnaught she'd been conversing with, "he is their leader of sorts. He says we can barter passage on a trade freighter leaving tonight for Bespin."

"That's great news," Venik said a smile finally gracing his lips.

* * *

Venik looked at the woman eating opposite him. Well… Eating wasn't the right term for it at this point. Relica was worried. That much Venik could tell from the way she played with her food as they ate. It had been over an hour since she radioed Sparky and told him to grab what he could and make his way to them. He even heard her give him their coordinates. Yet the quirky droid was still nowhere to be seen.

"If he doesn't turn up in the next fifteen minutes we'll go looking for him, okay?" Venik reassured her, reaching across the table to put his hand on hers.

Looking up away from the food and straight into his eyes she gave him a small smile. "Yeah ...okay," she said with a worried sigh.

He didn't like seeing her like this and he was also worried for Sparky. He could tell even Naii was worried, but he'd never let on as he'd spent most of the meal telling them he hoped the droid was lodged in a crevasse somewhere. But he'd soon stopped when he could see Relica getting upset over it.

Naii leaned forward, placing down the utensil he'd been using, "Relica...he will be alright, the rust bucket probably just-" Naii started, being cut off by an angry set of bleeps. "What the-"

"How the-" Venik started with a smile on his face seeing the droid and being cut off by Relica's overjoyed shouts of, "Sparky!"

* * *

Relica didn't know how he'd done it. Hell, she wasn't going to begin to guess, let alone question it. He shouldn't have even been able to move let alone make it to them, but she didn't care. She was just happy he was here.

She could tell that even Naii was impressed with Sparky. When she'd told the 'rust-bucket' (as Naii would lovingly call him) to grab what he could, she meant a couple of things, but it seems the niche droid had taken what she'd said to mean as much as you can carry. Which for a small astromech, was surprisingly an awful lot.

Before the trio stood Sparky, who was inexplicably piled up with all they could have imagined retrieving from their former haphazardous ship. Almost all of it was suspiciously strapped, and precariously placed on his body. One would wonder if he'd had help.

"Oh, I am so glad to see you, Sparky!" Relica cried as she hugged the droid. Sparky was happy to see her too if the overjoyed wee's and bloops where anything to go by.

"Glad you could finally join us, rust-bucket, it's good to see you," Naii said relief evident in his voice causing the droid to go silent as it seemingly studied him. After a moment it let out a happy series of bloops at Naii and went some kind of erratic, top-heavy dance.

"Come on, let's go get all this stuff off of you," Naii said, ready to lead the overencumbered droid to where Grugnik had said they could leave their stuff.

"Bleep bloop bleep waaaaaaa!" Sparky sounded excitedly, as he charged Naii.

"No sparky don't-!" Relica shouted a moment too late as everything he was carrying went flying, the droid toppling over.

She watched as once again Sparky's head broke off, and rolled until it bounced off of Naii's foot.

"I take it back," Naii shouted, "we should have just left the stupid little thing back on the piece of junk we arrived here on!" Naii growled out in annoyance, which was met with the happy squeals of the now decapitated droid.

"Oh, Sparky," Venik sighed in good humour as Relica just shook her head at the whole scene. "Guess we'd better pick all this up…"


	10. MINER DIFFICULTIES

Star Wars: The Last Orders

Chapter 9 - Miner Difficulties

Written By ShawnMorgan

Edited by Princess-Aurora-Bunny, and Jedieaper

Additional Material Written by Jedireaper

Naii looked at the clutter that the over enthusiastic Astromech had scattered all around the floor. To think, he'd actually been impressed by the erratic droid. He sighed, shook his head and started collecting the bits and pieces.

Relica groaned as she picked up the droid's domed head again.

"You know," Relica started, "he was only trying to help, Naii. He just got a overly excited when you said something nice to him for a change."

"You have to admit Naii, it _was_ unexpected of you," Venik added

Naii coughed, then paused and looked at the droid, coming to a decision, "Alright clanker, I have to admit that you can carry a surprising amount. So, I'll make you a deal: when we give you a task like this, don't try to impress us, and don't try to do everything all at once." Naii looked at Relica and asked, "Reckon you can take it from here?"

"Yes," Relica answered.

Naii smiled. "By the way, I'd be grateful if you could be a bit more specific in your requests and commands in the future."

Relica nodded and she and Venik looked surprised as Sparky wheeled behind them both.

Naii gave the droid a pained look, "I might be tempted to leave the droid behind or to get him to plug itself into a power droid's charge socket now and then but at least I wouldn't want to use Sparky as target practice."

"Target practice? Who'd get a droid, just to shoot it?" Relica asked, disbelief in her tone, one hand placed reassuringly on sparky.

"More people than you'd realise," supplied Venik, who was carefully replacing tools in the astromech's carrying harness, "Especially those that fought general Grievous." Venik continued explaining what he knew of the Clone Wars (which was surprisingly little, but more than most) until he caught himself, and noticed the expression on Naii's face. "Is there something wrong, Naii?"

Naii was grimacing. "Some things just bring back bad memories."

Relica nodded and smiled sadly. "We'll end up like that eventually."

 _I damn well hope not_ , he thought. "Anyway, I'm just saying that he needs to slow down and be more cautious. Just like his owner," he added.

"He's his own droid, thank you very much," Relica said snippily at being called Sparky's owner.

Naii sighed continuing to clean up the mess while he spoke."The galaxy won't see it, and not the way the droid sees it either. Here, watch; Sparky, who do you belong to?"

Sparky turned his head to Relica, and beeped happily.

He watched as she shook her head and smiled at the droid before they continued to tidy up in silence. "I'll leave you two to it, I need some air…"

* * *

Relica sat on a chair in a waiting room, relaxing after the clean up. Sparky had parked himself next to her and was in power conservation mode. The Droid's harness was now arranged more snugly, courtesy of Venik and he had even made a few adjustments to the droid's head in an attempt to stop it dettaching.

""Venik," Relica said, "Do you think there's any point to what we do?"

"Sure!" chirped the man across from her, looking up as he did so, from his datapad. "Everyone need auxiliaries. I mean, we can't all be Skywalkers and Organas."

"Oh, you'll get no argument from me there, but that's not what I meant."

"Oh?" Venik placed his datapad by his side, giving Relica his full attention.

"The Rebellion. Why do we think we can beat something as strong as the empire? They destroyed an entire planet with a super weapon and they very nearly wiped us out on Hoth!"

"Yet we vapourised the Death Star and we flew evacuation transports straight past a fleet of Star Destroyers."

"A lot of those transports never made it, Venik," Relica said softly.

"I flew some of those missions, so I know that all too well, but we all knew the risks when we signed up, as well as the power of the Empire, yet we were still able to show the galaxy that they aren't invulnerable."

Relica snorted, "Still, in both cases we got lucky. Without Skywalker or Solo, and Leia Organa's droid, we'd have lost at Yavin, and Hoth would've gone worse!"

"We've been real lucky the last few years, but there won't always be a Skywalker or Solo to save us. They may be the heroes everyone talks about, but we're what the rebellion's about; people banding together and making a stand all while saying: we won't be cowed!"

Relica smiled. "Ven, you make me feel like the three of us could take on the Empire all by ourselves."

"The three of us, huh?" He responded with a coy smile.

"You, me and Sparky, of course!" She said chipperly, a playful look in her eye.

* * *

Naii had been for a walk and as he ambled back towards the other two feeling in good spirits when he paused by a vid screen, wondering if galactic news would show anything useful for a change. He signalled to an Ugnaught that he wanted to use the vid and upon getting permission switched it, with a sigh, to _The Empire Today_.

The Holo-net was showing some sort of dating show where young women of aristocratic backgrounds competed to get a date with a man from the imperial navy. The second half of the inane show would switch the roles and have a media friendly Imperial try to get a date with a well-to-do lady.

Naii suffered through the show, waiting for the imperial news to begin. As much as he hated to admit it, it was the only way he could get any news about the rebellion. He pulled out a datapad and prepared to transfer what was useful from the propaganda.

* * *

It was good news in his estimation, and his eagerness to return to the group showed it, if but only briefly as he rounded a corner a little too sharply and lost his footing, causing him to collide with a bunch of Ugnaught workers. They gestured and barked out their annoyance in grunts and squeals.

Picking himself up, he was about to just dash off, leaving them to suck it up when the thought of Relica's actions from earlier made him decide against it. Wincing at the thought, Naii straightened up, bowed and said, "I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

It was then a concussive blast slammed him several yards back down the corridor, leaving him and the group of Ugnaughts groaning on the floor.

"Kriffing kriff it," Naii growled, fumbling for his communicator as he sat up slightly. "Venik," he waited for a response, then continued, "any idea what the hell just happened?"

"Relica's trying to find out, but the Ugnaughts are darting around here there and everywhere. If you're not too far away, it's probably best if you come back here."

"Yeah, makes sense," Naii muttered. "You'd better get down here." He closed the communicator as he picked himself up and began to retrace his steps when an Ugnaught caught hold of his arm and began tugging urgently.

"What?" Said the groggy man, then he saw it, a plume of smoke, accompanied by the stench of sulphur.

Naii found himself striding to keep up with the short creature that insisted he follow it to what he suspected was the source of the blast, and was once more surprised by just how fast they could move. It wasn't long before he was sweating profusely and the Ugnaught produced a breather mask with yellow tinted lenses.

As they came to a stop, Naii followed the Ugnaught's gesture. On the other side of a collapsed walkway, was the Mother from earlier that had thrown things at him and Venik. By the look of her, she'd been in the process of evacuating when she and her child had been cut off.

Naii looked at the pressure doors that had sealed off all other corridors and in the face of the impending disaster and tapped his communicator once. "Double time it, the way the heats rising around here, I don't think we have long before the place goes sky high and Venik, that mother and her kid are trapped on the other side of this large chasm, and the blast door on her end is locked down."

"Blast!" Came Venik's response. "We're a few minutes out, do what you can, we're bringing Sparky."

"Copy." He slid his communicator back into its belt slot and started searching for for something useful, something he could use to get across the chasm.. There were a few structural beams laid along the cavern wall, but they would be too short. Changing tactics, he knelt down near the walkway where it had twisted away from the sulfur spewing vent. The heat was close to unbearable and even if he could gapple across, in this heat, it would end badly for him.

He was still trying to come up with a viable rescue and repair plan when his friends arrived, with Sparky trundling in right behind them. Naii snapped his fingers, a sudden grin splitting his face. "Sparky, secure yourself to the door frame right here. Venik, take all the gear, be quick about it. Relica, keep an eye on the superstructure and let the lady over there know we're preparing a rescue "

The two young rebels blinked dazedly but began their work immediately, with Venik only asking Naii, "What's the plan?" as the older man began winding grapnel cord around Sparky.

"We have Sparky here attach one end of the grapnel this side and then accelerate to his best speed and drive off the walkway. Secured as he is, even if he doesn't get to the other side, you and I can swing him until he can fire this second grapnel and attach it firmly to the other side."

"Then what?" Venik asked, dubiously.

"Then she attaches herself and her child to Sparky's harness. From there, our little droid here can bring himself back over this side by reeling in one grapnel while releasing the other a bit at a time," Naii explained, "once we have both mother and child safe, he reels in both grapnels and we get the hell out of here!" He added.

At the edge of the walkway Relica turned to stare at Naii. Venik had very similar expression on his face as Venik said, "that's crazy."

"Crazy, yet it might just work," Relica added, sharing a look with Venik.

"Well then, let's get on with it!" Naii barked impatiently.

Naii saw Venik's eyes narrow at his tone but the young rebel simply turned and began spooling out cable. Relica was calling out in measured tones to the panicked Ugnaught woman across the way.

Within a minute Sparky was secured by the cable, and they were ready to gave the signal. here we go."

Sparky drove at its best speed towards a gap in the railing, . Naii was impressed by the speed the Astromech displayed, suddenly boosted as it fired off it's fire suppressant gas to give it a boost in his his initial swan dive, as the droid zoomed past the group and straight off the edge..

Sparky immediately shot out the second piton, eliciting a triumphant series of 'wees,' and, 'wahs,' from the droid as he began extending cable behind himself. Sparky slowly reeled the second one, making sure not to dislodge it from its purchase point.

When Sparky finally hauled himself onto the same walkway as the Ugnaught mother and child, there was a collective cheering on the opposite side of the cavern. Naii checked that the piton was still firmly wedged into the rock and he saw the Ugnaught across from them do the same.

The mother Ugnaught began working feverishly, strapping her child into Sparky's harness. With a final tug to ensure the child was secure she gave the droid a pat and pointed back over the gap.

"Good choice, too much weight would put too much strain on the line," Venik muttered, having monitored the now taught lifeline.

Relica was watching intently as Sparky reversed its previous actions and she pulled the droid in when it reached their ledge after several tense minutes. Relica released the child. "And now, we need to do that one final time, you up to that, Sparky?".

Getting a series of affirmative bleeps, and a nod from Venik assuring her the cable was secure, she patted Sparky. "Off you go then."

Ugnaught next to Naii answered his beeping communicator, and whilst he could neither hear nor understand the words, this small guide's increasing anxiety clued him in that it wasn't good news.

"What is it?" He asked urgently and the Ugnaught showed him the datapad that now flashed a countdown. He had a sudden hunch at that, and looked at the blast door immediately behind them. The number he was shown made sense. "We're running out of time," he muttered, electing not to worry the other two just yet. He turned his attention back to Sparky, now already back over the ledge.

"Relica, get that kid out of here, it's not safe."

"Right," she nodded, bundling the Ugling, and made for the blast door.

The droid was slower this time, as the fire suppressant he was using had ran out already, and they could only watch as he wobbled, suspended between the large gap, with spewing molten rock now filling the chamber with an orange light, and even more ungodly heat, and noxious gasses..

The astromech began to reel in the cable but something had gone wrong and the group watched as Sparky strained to no avail.

"The bloody winch must have jammed,", Naii cursed and shouted over, "Climb for it!" He shouted across the gap, "It's your only chance!""

"In this heat?" A sweat drenched Venik murmured.

"Like I said before, she's more resistant to this heat than we are and we're not unconscious yet. Besides, we don't have a lot of time, that blast door will close in three minutes." He didn't wait for Venik's response, instead focussing on the Ugnaught female who was shimmying down the cable and grasping hold of Sparky, working her stubby limbs into the harness, securing herself the same way that she had secured her child.

Naii took a deep breath, relieved that she'd made it, when the next problem occurred. He watched Sparky release the secondary cable but instead of whirring up to them, the droid simply hung there, the Ugnaught woman was simply too heavy for the droid to reel himself back across.

There wasn't going to be enough time for the droid to overcome its malfunction. They had just over two minutes left. Cursing, Naii grabbed the cable and Venik joined him. "Sparky detach the cable from the other end, we'll haul you up. Hang on!" Naii shouted, and then watched as the squeeling mother swung down with the droid, and they started trying to haul it in bodily, the heat searing his face.

The Ugnaught crouched down at the edge and made sure that the cable remained free of the walkway.

Pulling as hard as they could they braced themselves, as Naii wrapped a coil of wire around himself, they continued pulling as staggering towards the exit.

Suddenly, the cable went slack and Naii and Venik stumbled forward. A clattering sound, accompanied by sparks and squeals let them know that the droid, along with his passenger had toppled onto the walkway.

Venik was the first to recover. He moved forward to heft Sparky to his feet and was glad to see that the now unconscious Ugnaught was on the side.

Venik hauled on the astromech, thankful when he realised Naii had the other side.

"Everyone out!" Naii gestured and waved Venik and the rest, grateful to see them dart to safety.

There was a klang and a hiss and Relica realised the blastdoor had started coming down behind her, she turned towards it as Venik passed through unharmed, then Naii darted through after him.

Sparky was hot on their heels, narrowly missing being crushed by the heavy door himself as he sped through after them.

Relica chuckled with relief, then suddenly inspired, quipped, "That blur just before Sparky, was Naii, right?"

"...Or some sort of Naii doppelganger."

Naii rolled his eyes, beathing heavily. "Yeah, ye-" he stopped that second 'yeah' dead in its tracks, and looked around cautiously before continuing. "Funny pair, aren't you?" He then collapsed forwards towards the ground.

"Naii?!" Relica shouted as she watched her friend faint. Venik was just close enough to catch him, lowering him down softly to avoid injuring the unconscious man. Watching as Venik moved to a better position, she went to help him lift Naii, carefully passing the ugling to it's mother first.

"He'll be fine," Venik said noticing her grab onto Naii's other arm, "let's just get to the medical bay."

* * *

It was a few hours later, and after a barrage of medical check ups for the lucid Naii and some examinations on Venik, the trio now stood facing the landing area awaiting the imminent arrival of the transport. They had bidden farewell to the Ugnaught family who had expressed their gratitude by repairing Sparky (as much as Relica would allow, anyway), and refilling his fire suppressant reservoirs. They even threw in the parts for a pair of thrusters for maneuvering the droid, though Relica would have to install them herself. It'd give her something to do on their short trip ahead.

This reminded Naii about the reason he'd been rushing back earlier, before all the craziness had started. "Check this out," He said simply, producing a Datapad from a pocket on his jacket.

He positioned the Datapad so that all three of them could finally watch it, and brought up the broadcast from earlier. The younger rebels just shrugged their shoulders at him, still smiling as the older man pressed play.

Venik frowned as he recognised the show. "Um, Naii, you are aware that this show is, well, you know…"

Naii interjected. "Bloated Imperial propaganda that's got about as much worthwhile content as a pile of Bantha dung? Yeah, I'm aware of that. Just watch and you should see what I mean."

With that he sped the holo to the news segment and hit play. An Imperial official appeared on screen and intoned gravely. "The battle of Hoth was an _astounding_ victory for the Imperial forces as the revered Lord Vader took his personal fleet to break the backbone of the terrorist's cell in a decisive victory. Few escaped his righteous wrath and even now Lord Vader is closing in on the infamous Alderaanian anarchist, Leia Organa and her band of notorious terrorists. Make no mistake, loyal citizens, their days are numbered! That was a bulletin broadcast earlier today..."

"Sounds like the princess evaded them…" Venik Murmured.

"That's Solo for you," Relica added.

"Yeah," Naii added. "But it means we still have a leader out there."

Relica took in a deep and partially relieved breath, giving one last look at the landing area as the transport came in just like Grugnik had promised, slowly settling to the ground. Her mind wandered to the Echo One; and the Holovids she'd seen as child had often shown characters develop some sort of emotional attachment to a makeshift crate that had gotten its heroes home. All she had to say to that, thinking about the flying deathtrap that had barely gotten _them_ here here was, " _I'll be glad if I never see that pile of poodoo again._.."

Both Venik and Naii gave their female companion a curious look, wondering if she was referring to this place or something else entirely, but didn't say a word as they quickly gathered up their meagre belongings and one eccentric droid.

Walking towards the freighter, Relica smiled: _Next stop, Bespin._


	11. CITY IN THE CLOUDS

Star Wars: The Last Orders

Chapter 10 - City in the Clouds

Written By Jedireaper

"I'm the Administrator of this Facility, and who might you be?"

The person opposite him had clearly _been through the wars_ as it were, though much as that was a figure of speech he was sure she'd seen some action; recently in fact, as the scarring over her left eye was still comparatively fresh.

"Who I am, is not of your concern," the person placed the datapad on the Administrator's desk, "this is a list of Lord Vader's instructions. They must be followed exactly to the letter. Any deviation, and the generous deal we're cutting you, will be altered."

"I understand."

"Do you?" The skepticism was extremely evident in her tone.

"Shouldn't I?" He asked her, assuredness in his.

"If you don't, Administrator Calrissian, then things will simply get worse for you here. So you'd do well to heed these instructions."

The Administrator watched the Imperial Officer leave. She was definitely one of the youngest and most attractive he'd seen in the Imperial starfleet. But he could tell she had some kind of chip on her shoulder, and that gave her a cold steely edge towards the world.

"Hoo, boy. That girl," he said aloud, "has some serious issues."

* * *

The transport freighter lifted above the landing platform, kicking up a draft that caused the figures on the platform to brace themselves. It left Relica, Venik, and Naii (and a group of Ugnaughts to carry the cargo it had delivered), on the large landing platform that was splashed in golden sunlight.

"Well, it's warmer than Hoth." Naii grumbled, thinking about the sulphuric heat from a few days ago.

"It's sunnier than Zhanox." Venik smiled, enjoying the orange and gold colour that was shining off all the buildings and structures ahead.

"It's Bespin!" Relica exclaimed finally, moving ahead of them and taking in the whole visage of what the gas giant had to offer.

"Actually," Venik added informatively, "this place is named Cloud City."

"Uh-huh," Relica nodded, seemingly the most eager to get off the platform.

Sparky made a sound that almost mimicked an, 'Ooooh,' and sped past Naii, almost knocking him over. The droid then skidded to a stop and turned it's domed head to face Naii.

For a brief moment Naii thought the droid was going to apologise to him, when it just made a raspberry at him and then continued speeding off ahead of them.

"I'm sorry," Naii called after the droid, "my Lord Sparky!" Naii turned to Relica and said, "You really need to get this droid's ego in check, ever since he became _a hero_ he's kriffin' insufferable."

"You already considered him insufferable, Naii."

"Well… he has his uses." Naii watched the droid speed around the Ugnaught workers that were carrying a heavy crate and bump into the orange power door at the end of the platform. "Had. He _had_ his uses."

"At least his head didn't fall off this time," Relica muttered.

"Right," Venik chuckled.

It was a few minutes later when they joined their droid friend and entered an almost pristine white entrance hall (marred only by the scuff marks from the cargo that had been moved through).

"This seems nice," Relica commented, as the group came to the apex of the hall. It was a spacious and rounded room with three hallways leading off of it; it had a very open and surprising fancy feel (though most of the spacious look might have been more down to the lighting and the white and warm colours, than actual space).

There was a window above them that seemed to be filtering down light from above in a soft orange. If Naii hadn't known better he'd have thought this place was down-right regal.

It was then the the far left door opened and a group of blue and gold trimmed, uniformed men entered and approached the newcomers. They were armed, and walked with an official air about them. In their lead was a bald man, with some kind of cybernetic implant that semi-circled his cranium.

"Company," Naii indicated, as the group of armed men surrounded them.

The bald man wasted no time, and got straight to the point: "Why are you here?"

Before any of the organic members of the group could respond, Sparky started blurting out in his usual fashion, what Naii could only imagine was an exaggerated version of the events of the past week. The explanation seemed to go on for a minute or two, and then the droid seemingly started gesturing towards them with his various appendages, and finished up whatever it was he had been saying.

Neither Relica, nor Venik made any attempt to interrupt the droid, so Naii stayed shtum.

The bald man's face never made a twitch and his eyes seemed to be quite distant, but his voice nonetheless responded with authority; "We will provide you quarters and any specific amenities you may require. Follow me."

The trio of Rebels glanced at each other, then looked at Sparky a moment before hesitatingly moving to follow, as instructed. Two of the four guards that had accompanied the cyborg, fell into step with them. They soon entered into a large curved corridor with frosted glassine allowing either daylight, or simulated daylight, to filter through; continuing the bright and open feeling from the room before.

The hallway was teeming with life, from groups of Ugnaughts (who struck Naii the most, as almost civilized and respected), to humans, droids and aliens of various shape. The multitude living and working together far from the rule of the Empire. _And considering the security employed here_ , Naii eye'd the two guards flanking them, _not a lawless cesspit so many places beyond the Empire became_.

Relica broke their apparent silence. "This is a very nice place, it reminds me of some of the palaces from my homeworld."

"Certainly beats that mining colony we were just at by a large margin." Naii added.

"I don't want to seem rude," Venik addressed the bald man leading them, "but we didn't get your name. I'm Venik, this is Relica and Naii. And the droid is Sparky."

He ignored Venik's prying as they finally came to a bank of turbolift entrances. This seemed to be their current destination, as one of the cars was summoned; and it wasn't long before it arrived either.

"This way."

The group entered the lift-car and were quickly sped away, Venik could feel the shifting movement of the car as they were transported across the city, the open transparisteel of the car allowing them a good view of the towers and communal public areas, large water features, and neatly kept gardens.

A dozen seconds later the car came to a halt, and its doors opened to a similarly white and airy hallway, but this one was less crowded. They were soon brought to a door that parted to reveal an open plan apartment, with a large bay window and balcony, and a comfortable looking living space.

"The Administrator will meet with you all tomorrow morning. If you need anything, the Central Computer terminal will provide you access to the public database."

Relica nodded, splitting her attention between their immediate benefactor and the room they had been given. "Thank you," she managed.

Before anyone else could chime in with their own affirmation, the enhanced man had left, and the door closed. Naii flopped down onto one of the curved white couches, and shook his head. "That Cyborg guy didn't seem all that high up on manners."

"I wonder what those Cybernetics were for," Venik questioned as he packed down his pack and wandered over to the window that overlooked the part of the city they were in. _Nice view,_ he thought.

"Whatever his are for," Relica added, tapping on and studying the terminal the cybernetic man had indicated, "I guess we'll be able to find out tomorrow."

* * *

Relica's eyes snapped open and she stared up at the dimly lit ceiling above her. It was still dark outside, and the only light seemed to be from the city itself (and maybe the occasional airspeeder). _It must be early morning,_ she thought.

Relica was laid in a comfortable bed, and maybe that was why she was awake now. This was a far cry from the hard and cold, frozen ice they'd had to sleep on during those first few days, whilst Venik and herself had been trapped in that tunnel. And certainly luxury, compared to her sleeping arrangements of the last year or so.

 _And yet, here I am awake. Why can't I shake this bad feeling that something is wrong. That this was too easy a win for us. We made it after all. Yeah, we aren't quite back with the Rebellion, but we are alive. And we've helped people. Enough with the bad thoughts,_ Relica scolded herself.

Her mind was awash with these thoughts though, and after what seemed like an eternity (but was only about a couple of minutes), she concluded that it was probably just a mix of anxiety and restlessness. "Maybe a warm drink will help," she muttered, and pushed back the bed covers.

* * *

The floor was cold on her feet, as Relica quietly made her way over to the modest but well stocked kitchenette, that was to one side of the apartment, and activated the multiprocessor.

Adding the required ingredients, water, milk and sweetener; within a few seconds she was pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate. Relica clasped the ceramic cup in her hands as she made her way over to the balcony, breathing in the thick and sweet aroma.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

The hushed voice startled her, and she turned to its source, to see Venik sat on the floor, propped up against the lip of the window, dimly lit by the city lights. "I didn't think anyone would be awake," Relica whispered.

"Join the club," Venik whispered back. He looked like he'd been sat there a while, just staring out at the city. "It felt so strange," he added after a few seconds, "to be almost normal for a change."

"Yeah," she responded as she eased herself down next to the man. "It's been so long since I slept in any kind of decent bed, beyond a military cot."

Venik nodded and took a sip from the glass of water he'd had down beside him. "Should try sleeping in the cockpit of an X-Wing, cramped with no room to stretch out."

"Hmm," she smiled at him. "Maybe not."

A few minutes passed by, and the pair sat in silence looking out at the view of the towers of lights and the clouds beyond. Venik turned to her and asked, "Do you want to go back?"

"What do you mean?" Her eyes studied his, confusion evident in her questioning tone.

"I mean back to the Rebellion," he added, pausing for a brief moment, "we could just stay here. Don't you want all this craziness to be over?"

"What are you saying?" Relica seemed taken aback, and her eyes hardened. She spoke slowly, "The Empire is still out there, subjugating countless worlds, countless peoples. It," she turned her attention to the city beyond, "won't be over till the Empire has been defeated. And I can return home, free."

"That's…" Venik studied the intensity of her expression, and the seriousness in her eyes as she returned her gaze to him. "That's quite a strong conviction you have there. Good, I'm glad. You'll need it."

Relica gave him a perplexed look. "I don't understand," she whispered.

"Don't worry about it." Venik turned away from her, and looked out at the clouds, he continued, "I wasn't suggesting we leave the Rebellion. I was just saying that we could."

"Well," Relica's eye's hardened and her voice took on an annoyed tone, "I won't."

"Neither will I," Venik said with equal measure.

Silence fell between them for what seemed like an age, after their discussion. The pair watched the occasional passing airspeeder, its lights flickering by the bay window. They were strange, orange, twin podded vehicles, and Venik imagined they could seat two people. It was Relica that broke the silence.

"Venik, when you grabbed me in that hallway did you even think we'd survive to make it this far?"

"I- uh," Venik hesitated and turned his head to look at her again. "No," he continued, "honestly, I didn't think we'd be able to get out of that hallway, never mind _off the planet_."

Relica seemed to smile at his response, adding, "I figured we'd freeze to death, before we died from starvation. I was just glad I wasn't alone."

"Yeah," Venik agreed. "Good thing we didn't though, we survived."

"Yeah, yeah." She smiled and moved slightly closer to him, as light from a passing speeder caught Relica's face, and Venik could see that her eye's were tired.

"We should get some sleep, before we have to meet the Administrator." Venik then placed a hand on the windowsill and began to pull himself up.

"Uhm," she began awkwardly, placing a hand on his arm to stop him from standing, "could you sleep out here? Y'know, with me?"

Venik paused in thought for a moment and rested back down, "Sure I can."

* * *

Bright sunlight filtered through the window to the apartment, and the pair awoke to find both Naii and Sparky effectively standing over them. "Morning campers," Naii grinned. "Fun night?"

Relica's cheeks went a bright red in stark contrast to her blue eyes; she shook her head. "It's not what it looks like."

" _I_ didn't say it looked like anything," Naii responded smiling, as he thrust a mug of steaming caf at her. Sparky offered the mug he was gripping with his appendages, to Venik, though Sparky was a little less careful and some of the steaming dark liquid ran down the side. "You two had better get ready."

"Thanks," Venik said, pulling himself up, and patting the droid's domed head, before taking the mug. The droid shook back and forth, and buzzed and blooped at him. "Alright, we'll hurry."

Relica smiled, "Thanks."

Naii pointed towards a fresh selection of clothing that had since appeared on the couch by the door. "They arrived earlier. Offered up a bit of a selection. You two have a look through and pick something more appropriate. I'll keep our gear in the pack."

BREAK

It was an hour later when the door chimed, and a dark skinned man in a purple two-part jacket and pants, and a gold lined red cape, strode in. He had a smooth swagger to the way he walked, and a styled moustache. He eyed the occupants of the room and flashed them all a pearly smile. "I'm Lando Calrissian. I'm the Administrator of this Facility."

"Lando..." Naii's attention completely affixed on the man, his eye twitched very slightly as he recalled the name. "You."

"Me?" Lando asked, pointing to himself. The smile on his face froze, and his eyes searched Naii defensively. "You know me?"

"Yeah," Naii started, "and you owe me a rematch." Naii stepped forward and extended a hand. "How did you swindle _this_ place?"

Recognition flashed across Lando's eyes, "Naii... Naii Rofteun? Last I heard you'd gotten caught up in some business with Saw Gerrera… that was a quite a few years back." He took Naii's hand and pulled him into a hug.

"I've… not heard his name in a long time, "Naii sighed, "and not since he died on Jedha." Naii stepped back, hurt evident on his face.

Lando shook his head as he responded, "I didn't know he'd died, just figured it was all propaganda. But you two- you never did get on when I did that run for you guys, you two were always falling out, if I recall correctly."

"Ever since his sister died. Steela, she was a strong leader, and fierce warrior. We took back our home from the Separatists. When she died though, Saw went off the edge, became too unstable. We went our separate ways not long after we did that run with you about ten, maybe fifteen. He got mixed up with some conspiracy and… well, that was a lifetime ago."

Lando nodded, and looked at the three other occupants. "Lobot told me that you're all on the run from the Empire, and you'd just come from Hoth."

"Yeah, that sums it up," Venik nodded with his agreement being echoed by Sparky. "So that's his name, huh?"

Lando just smiled at them and shook his head slightly. "Yeah, he can forget things like social niceties sometimes, with his brain all haywired up to the City Central Computer like it is." Lando waved his hand for emphasis. "But I tell you, this place wouldn't run without him."

Relica nodded. "He did seem a little _strange_."

"Lady, you don't know the half of it." Lando straightened himself up, and turned towards the doorway. "You are free to access all the public areas, but don't interfere with current business. I've just had the Ugnaught strike and it's caused all kinds of labour difficulties."

"Does the Empire ever come sniffing round this way?" Naii asked.

Lando turned and studied Naii for a moment, seemingly hesitant as he spoke, but that roguish smile blossomed across his face, "We're a small enough operation that we avoid the kinds of attention that warrants Imperial jurisdiction."

"So," Relica added, "you must be part of the Mining Guild?"

"Same goes for the Mining Guild, too. Most of our customers want to avoid being noticed," Lando responded, "which has allowed us to keep up a decent profit each season."

"Sounds to me like the Empire could come by any day and shut this whole thing down," Venik added.

"The Empire's always a danger, but thankfully I've just struck a deal that will ensure the Empire will stay far away from here."

"What deal?" Naii asked sceptically.

"What kind of deal could keep the Empire away?" Venik asked. "We talking Hutts, or Black Sun?"

"No, no… nothing like that." Lando sagged, and reached for the door controls. "Look the deals going down in a few days, so if you all could do me a big favour and stay out of trouble, then you are welcome to stay as long as you like." Lando turned away muttering, "I've had enough of 'old buddies' messing up my business."

"In that case, we're going to need transport, a ship; and you owe me a rematch. I know you cheated that cargo out of Gerrera and me," Naii accused the well known swindler.

"Hey, who're you callin' a cheater. This is my roof you're under, here." Lando shook his head, adding, "I'll see what I can do, I'm sure something can be arranged. Oh and don't let your droid wander around, he'll probably end up in a junk pile."

Lando then hit the door controls, and with a nod, left, just as Sparky whirred and vocalised his _feelings_ towards becoming part of a junk pile.

"Nice guy," Relica smiled.

"Nice nothing, don't buy his act. The guy's nothing but a dishonourable cheat," Naii uttered in mostly good humoured and partly feigned contempt.

"Guess we'd best get comfortable." Venik sighed, leaning back into couch.

* * *

Her eyes narrowed as she watched Lando leave the room he'd gone to. The morning sun was beating down, and her macro-binoculars adjusted to the light, allowing her to track the Baron Administrator's movements from her position on the balcony of the opposite tower. _I wonder what that meeting was really all about_. She'd checked the central computer earlier, and saw it was just a scheduled meeting of new arrivals, but that didn't put her at ease. _If Calrissian's smart he'll keep his mouth shut_.

Still though, she'll keep an eye on these new arrivals. Whomever they might be, they could play a part in the events to come.

The watcher lowered her binoculars, as her commlink bleeped, and she keyed the audio. "Shara."


End file.
